Sanitary sewer systems generally include a series of strategically placed manholes that are connected by sewer pipes to move wastewater from sources to a sanitary treatment plant. They are generally constructed of concrete or block material and are conventionally shaped to include a cone, corbel, and bench sections. Each manhole is usually covered by a metal cover that may be removed to permit entry into the manhole for maintenance and cleaning. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,389. These manholes are subject to leaks through cracks in the concrete or block, and numerous patents have issued showing ways to patch the manhole to stop the leaks. Also reinforced plastic casings have been suggested to replace the concrete manholes, as well as formed casing that are sectioned together at a construction site. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,938,285 and 4,089,909.
To bridge the gap between the concrete manholes and devices such as plastic casings, I invented a molded, hollow, one-piece, polyethylene wastewater access fitting that is connected below ground to external wastewater and sewer pipes. See my U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,799. The access fitting connects a wastewater source to a sewer system without the expense and labor of constructing a concrete manhole or lengthy assembly of materials for most needs to transfer wastewater to a sewer system. It has a connected standpipe, or riser, for ready entrance to the interior of the access fitting through the riser for cleaning and maintenance. It can be used as a supplement to a manhole. The riser is sealed at its top just below ground level but its lid can be removed to permit insertion of equipment used for maintenance or cleaning. The lid can be reinstalled to again make the access fitting watertight.
The access fitting has extensions molded to opposite ends at the bottom of its body. These extensions protrude outwardly with sections of decreasing outside diameter pipe. The sections are equal in size to the varying pipe sizes that may be connected to the access fitting. A section of the extension may be severed at a selected size to connect a pipe of that size to the access fitting.
The access fitting is impervious to acids and strong effluents that may normally flow through a manhole. It will not crack or swell as temperatures change. These features significantly reduce maintenance that is often experienced with concrete manholes because of ground shifts that crack the concrete or stress caused by extreme temperature shifts. The access fitting, while having many salient features that make it viable for use, is expensive to ship in bulk because of its large size with the extensions attached.
With the benefits achieved with the access fitting in mind, we have invented a wastewater chamber an assemblage that because of its separate but connectable pieces, is compact for handling, simple to install, and has all of the benefits realized with the access fitting, and because the assemblage is compact in size, it can be packaged for economical shipment in bulk.
Therefore, an object of our invention is to provide a simple, molded, chamber assemblage that is compact and easy to handle and can be quickly assembled and connected at a site to wastewater input and output pipes in a watertight manner, and sealed with an attachable lid that can be easily removed to permit ready access into the interior chamber from ground level for maintenance or inspection and can be easily resealed.
A feature of our invention is a wastewater chamber assemblage that is easily and quickly assembled and connects to wastewater pipes when placed below ground level to collect and transfer wastewater to a treatment plant and be easily accessed with maintenance equipment from above ground by removing an attachable watertight lid that seals the riser.
It is another feature of our invention that the chamber assemblage is compact for ease of handling and economy of shipping in bulk to a site for installation.
An additional feature of our invention is that the chamber includes connectable extensions that are part of the assemblage that are easily and quickly connected to the chamber to make a complete unit and to input and connect output pipe spigots of various size to increase the capability of the chamber to convey wastewater received from pipes of different outside diameter.